NEET Once a Year - HRD Ministry to take Decision by Next Week

HRD Ministry might reconsider its decision of conducting the NEET exam twice a year from the year 2019. The final decision on the same to come next week.

11^th August 2018: In a recent development, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry may reconsider the decision of conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) twice a year from 2019 onwards, as reported by the news agency Press Trust of India (PTI). As per the reports, the Health Ministry has written to the HRD Ministry that conducting the medical entrance examination twice a year will put additional pressure on the aspirants. However, the HRD Ministry will take the final decision on the matter by the next week.

On 30^th July during the Question Hour in the Parliament, the HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that the medical and engineering entrance exams will be conducted in Computer Based Mode but not online mode. The students are required to answer on the already download answer sheets.

Previous Announcements

Last month the Union HRD minister announced that the national level medical and engineering entrance examinations (NEET and JEE Main) will be conducted twice a year from 2019. The best out of the two scores would be considered for admission to various medical and engineering courses.

New Exam Conducting Authority

Also, the newly-formed National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET), Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC NET), and Common Management Admission Test (CMAT). Till now, these exams were conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

"NTA will establish a network of test practice centres for students of rural areas so that everyone will have an opportunity to practice before the exam," as per a press release of HRD Ministry.

Further, the press release stated that schools/engineering colleges with computer labs would be identified and kept open on Saturdays and Sundays so that students can use the facility to practice tests free of cost.

The HRD Ministry has also announced the tentative schedule for NEET 2019 exam according to which the exam would be conducted in February 2019 and May 2019.